Today I want to talk about a conflict each of us has seen in the classroom. The constant conflict between girls and boys in academic performance. It’s interesting to see that with so much research being done, it remains true that girls significantly outperform boys in school. This is because they are more disciplined, they study harder and in a more methodical manner. The idea of perfectionism is expected out of them, and they try their best to conform.
However, research shows that 95% of top positions in workplaces are occupied by men. If it's young women who are excelling in their academics, and academics is seen as a passageway to professional success, why is it that men overwhelmingly dominate these top positions? At first glance, it makes no sense. But if you look closer, you realise this issue is much more insidious and structural than you’d think. We all know that young girls are socialised in a way where they do their best to please the people around them, often as a determinant to their own self. This need for social acceptance, and having such stringent expectations placed on them is a huge reason why girls feel compelled to do so well at academics, and to try to perform their best to please their parents and teachers. The one thing these young girls aren't taught is confidence. There is a severe lack of confidence in young girls in school, especially in Pakistan. And unfortunately, teachers are not trained to deal with this disparity. In fact, teachers often make the whole situation much worse.
Now let’s take a trip down memory lane. Do you remember the second or third grade, where teachers would assign each child a seat where they would sit all year. They would make sure friends aren't seated together since they’d cause a disruption in class. And what would happen if a young boy would act out, and would be a huge distraction to the class. Yes, they would seat him right next to a young girl who is extremely well-behaved and academically driven. How is this fair? What responsibility does this girl have to the boy, who will eventually even disrupt her day to day classroom experience. What is this need, from a young age, to make girls feel responsible for the wrong doings of boys?
This needs to be thought about much more deeply, and the implications of these sorts of actions are sure to be huge. Young girls then learn to think less about themselves, and are trained to care more about the people around them. This is a severe issue that all teachers and parents should be acutely aware of!
This article raises a valid point about the perpetuation of gender norms and disparity from a young age. Girls are given different instructions, are prone to hearing stereotypical questions about marriage and children, are expected to help out in the household and are subconsciously nurtured to follow a different path than that of men. Men are 'smart' but women are 'cunning' ('chalak'). Men are 'confident' but women are vindictive.' The list goes on and on. Society has a habit of claiming that women mature faster than men. This statement is the ideal way to enforce women to take care of men, to make excuses for 'boys will be boys' behavior, and to hide ambition and intelligence in case it comes…
It’s frustrating to see how girls are expected to carry this unfair burden of perfectionism in school, only to face a completely different reality in the workplace. I’ve often wondered how it must feel for young women to be told that excelling academically is the key to success, yet seeing men dominate the top positions despite their hard work and discipline. It’s like the rules suddenly change once school ends, and the game isn’t the same anymore. The gap between the skills young women develop in school and their actual representation in leadership positions suggests that there are deeper, structural issues at play.
It leaves me asking: How do we create a culture that values the contributions of women in…
The academic performance gap between girls and boys is not in any way inherent, and so severely ignored, and it’s often attributed to girls’ discipline and drive to meet high expectations. But you point out something so crucial: these expectations, coupled with an ingrained need to please, can lead girls to neglect their own needs or goals in the pursuit of approval from others. Do you think these expectations create long-term consequences in how girls prioritize themselves versus others later in life?
The memory you bring up about seating arrangements really stands out. I myself was one of the girls who would often be seated next to a boy, to make sure they do not cause trouble. Assigning well-behaved girls…
Cultural and social expectations and norms are significant in establishing gender norms that perpetuate inequalities. Within the classroom, science and math are seen as the domain of boys while language and humanities are seen as the domain of girls, hence implicit bias of teacher facilitates learning of both groups in pre-determined fields. A girl interested in STEM will be discouraged by being given less opportunities to speak up in class, hampering her learning. Moreover, associating a good student as an obedient student in the case of girls prevents girls from taking up leadership roles and independent thinking. It is important to explore how can schools challenge these societal norms that act as barriers in learning. Some proposed solutions can include…
I love the topic you have chosen as it such a prevalent issue yet ignored so easily. Even classrooms are not safe from gender biases and discrimination. The first point regarding the discrepancy between academic achievement and subsequent career success is strong, highlighting the fact that academic excellence does not equate to equality in the workplace. With most of the top jobs and authoritative seats being held by men. Your insightful illustration of how these early patterns may reinforce a lifelong tendency for women to put the needs of others before their own is demonstrated by your connection between classroom practices such as seating arrangements that assign girls to "manage" boys and the socialized responsibility imposed on girls. That is…